


Annex: Challenge

by Legume_Shadow



Series: Whispers (Prequels to the Echoes Series) [5]
Category: Peacemaker Kurogane, Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-02
Updated: 2014-11-02
Packaged: 2018-02-23 21:02:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2555552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Legume_Shadow/pseuds/Legume_Shadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Saitou Hajime is sent from his home province to study for a few months at Kondou Isami's school, and finds a worthy rival to match his strength and cunning mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Annex: Challenge

**Author's Note:**

> Written because the author needed a break from writing conspiracies, and because, frak it, why not?
> 
> First Published: AO3, November 2014. All copyrights apply to the appropriate parties and no profit is being made from this fanwork.

**Annex: Challenge**

_Early Summer to Early Winter 1860_

 

The sound of bamboo and wooden swords smacking against each other was a welcomed one to his ears after days of listening to the sounds of birds tweeting. Absently patting the left side of his outfit, he heard the slight crinkling of paper, and ensured that the letter of recommendation was still secured. His clan had only allowed him six months for now, to study at Kondou Isami's Tennen Rishin Ryu school, and he was eager to get there and get started.

As soon as he entered the small courtyard to the dojo, the full volume of people practicing assaulted his ears, and he couldn't help but smile. It was refreshing just to hear and feel the many swordsman spirit saturating the place. Leaving his sandals at the foot of the walkway, he stepped up and peeked into the dojo proper. _Ki-ai_ from students fencing against each other in pairs flew through the air, along with thwacks of bamboo upon protectors.

It took only a moment for one of the instructors, a rather tall man with glasses sitting almost delicately upon the bridge of his nose, to notice that he had arrived. The bespectacled man loudly clapped his hands twice before saying, “Yame!”

Students stopped their sparring and stepped back, bowing before each other before shuffling backwards to either side of the dojo, allowing him to finally see that the master of the dojo was sitting near the back and center of the dojo with a grin on his face as he observed the students. That was strange to him, for the master he trained with constantly maintained a grim outlook upon his face, barely even twitching with any other expression. To see Kondou Isami, master of this dojo, smiling and at ease was very strange indeed...

“Pardon my interruption,” he said, taking a step forward, while pulling the recommendation letter out and handed it over to the bespectacled man who took a few quick steps towards Kondou, giving Kondou the letter. He watched as Kondou read through the letter fairly quickly before gesturing for him to approach. He obeyed, placing his gear down, and knelt down, sitting briefly in seiza before bowing towards the master of the dojo. “I am Saitou Hajime, a left-handed swordsman. I hope that you will accept the recommendation that my clan has written so that I may practice here.”

“Left-handed?” he heard Kondou murmur as he raised his head back up, ignoring whispers of surprise that floated across the hall, and sat himself in seiza again. “Interesting...” Kondou folded up the letter and placed it to the side before saying, “Saitou-san, though the dojo has an open-door policy and very rarely do we actually receive letters of recommendation, I would like a demonstration of your skills first before formally accepting you. I am very curious as to how a left-handed swordsman like you has adapted to fighting without giving into the pressure to conform to right-handed skills.”

“I am glad to show you, Kondou-sensei,” he answered.

“Souji,” Kondou said, glancing over towards a slight, young, and delicate-looking man...who sat in seiza in the _first seat in the first row_ of all assembled. “If you would please, test Saitou-san's skills.”

“Hai, sensei.”

Saitou's eyes had widened in surprise even before Kondou had finished asking his student. That particular seat that the young man named Souji currently sat in was usually reserved for the best and top student of the dojo. He couldn't believe his eyes that the effeminate-looking man who was calmly putting on protectors was Kondou's best student. He would have thought that the either of the tall men; one with spectacles or the one with long dark hair tied up in a ponytail, who were sitting near the entrance to the dojo, as if detached from the practicing group, would be the best.

Fortunately, he snapped out of his surprised fugue and quickly put on his own set of protectors and armor. As soon as he was ready, he picked up his shinai and stood. Kondou moderated the match and gestured for the two of them to approach. Bows and the protocol three steps in were done in unison, and he carefully watch through the slats in his head protector, anything that would give him a clue as to how his opponent would react.

Allowing his presence to expand, he felt his opponent do the same, but oddly enough, he could not get a solid reading on the young man. As soon as Kondou gave the signal to begin, the young man seemingly disappeared before Saitou's eyes. He only had a moment of warning, seeing a flash of bamboo appear before his eyes and narrowly twisted away from a point-blank thrust towards his chest. His left-handed twisting momentum carried him around and with a loud _crack_ , his shinai slammed against his opponent's.

Pushing with all of his might, he tried to force the young man backwards, but it seemed that his opponent was too well versed in not allowing a taller opponent take advantage of height. He needed to come at this another way and immediately backed away, holding his shinai at a guard position. This time, he saw his opponent charge again, and raised his sword, determined to reach out and strike overhead before the young man could close the distance.

_Crack!_

“A strike for Souji,” Kondou said.

Despite the frustration at being hit in the stomach by the young man's shinai, Saitou did not let his anger over take him. Instead, he remained calm and composed, and he could see a change in his opponent's stance. The young man must've been used to opponents completely lashing out in anger after that first strike, making them easier to read. He was not going to give him that satisfaction.

However, Saitou took the initiative and wailed upon the young man, striking as fast as he could, head, wrist, stomach, side of the head, everywhere where the nine basic strikes of a sword would go. He was not sure of the protocol that governed Kondou's dojo, especially whether or not he was allowed to use any of the forms he knew of the style he had trained in, during a spar with shinai. Therefore, he refrained from using learned derivations of _Gatotsu*_.

There was no pattern to his strikes, only the fact that he was pushing the young man back. However, even with all of his strength and speed behind the strikes, each was being met with the resounding _crack_ of the young man's shinai, blocking each strike.

Suddenly, he found himself flying backwards, with a sharp pain blossoming across the upper part of his chest. Landing on the ground with a skid, he stopped and found it oddly hard to breathe. Blinking, he pushed the pain-filled haze that had blanketed his eyes away and saw that his opponent was standing a little ways away. The young man was standing near the center of the dojo, arms outstretched, and shinai parallel to the ground.

Somewhere in his attack, he had given the young man an opening and in return, he had received a pinpoint thrust to the chest with a ridiculous amount of force behind it. It was no wonder it hurt to even just breathe. He gradually became aware that there was a murmur of concern floating around the dojo, and despite the pain, he quickly got up, bringing his shinai back up in a guard position. It would do nothing for his pride to remain on the ground, seemingly defeated.

“Yame,” Kondou said, holding a hand up as murmurs kept floating around the dojo.

Both of them relaxed and returned to the proper spacing to bow and take the required three steps back before kneeling back down to remove their protectors. Sweat clung to his face, matting both the cloth that was wrapped around his head and his hair down onto his head as he removed his helmet. Catching the eye of the young man, he gave him a nod and received one in return. It had been a good match, despite being in armor. If they ever had another match, he wanted it to be with bokken only. No armor and no shinai. He wanted to see what the young man's potential was with as close to a live blade as he could.

“Saitou-san,” Kondou said as soon as the two of them were done removing their armors. “Thank you for that demonstration and welcome to the school.”

“Thank you for accepting me,” he answered, bowing.

~~~

Saitou reached for the bucket full of cool well water and dumped the entirety of it over his head, letting the water soak into his clothes after an arduous, tough, but good training session. He had not even been an entire day yet, and had only been given a short break from that initial demonstration match before practice had begun again. Each of the students he had sparred against in the session had been eager to test their skills out on him, and he had obliged them. With each person he had sparred against, he knew that his own skills were slowly improving. Unfortunately, he did not get a chance to spar again against his initial opponent.

However, he could feel that he was still a long ways off from reaching perfection – the ability to smite any and all evil instantly. It had been drilled into him by his sensei since he had started training in one of his hometown's dojo, and he was well aware why exactly he had been given a six month pass to leave and go to Edo. Edo was pure, incorruptible, but with unrest so close to home, evil was starting to creep into the hearts of men and he needed to become stronger.

To do that, his sensei had offered him two options: study Hokushin Ittou Ryu at the Chiba dojo, or study Tennen Rishin Ryu at the Kondou dojo. Each had their strengths and weaknesses, but Saitou had heard that zealots proclaiming that the Shogunate was not doing their duty blanketed the Chiba dojo. To train in such a den of vipers would be taxing, and thus, he had chosen Kondou's dojo.

It seemed that he had chosen correctly, for though there were a few whispers of people who thought ill of the Shogun's policies, most of the students here supported their Shogun. Immediately after practice had ended, he had been introduced to most of the students, including both Yamanami Keisuke and Hijikata Toshizou, who helped Kondou Isami run the dojo. Others whom he thought had quite a bit of talent with the sword that he had gotten a chance to spar against were Nagakura Shinpachi and Harada Sanosuke. Apparently, the two said that there was a third person not present within their little group whom would be a good sparring partner for him...but Saitou did not put any stock in their words – not until he had a chance to spar against their friend, Toudou Heisuke.

The sound of someone approaching brought Saitou out of his thoughts and as he blinked the water away from his eyes, he saw a towel being thrust at him. It was the young man whom he had first demonstrated his competence against, who held the towel, but oddly, there was a cheerful smile on his face. Saitou found it extremely odd that even though the young man was smiling, he still couldn't get a good reading of intent off of him.

“Thank you,” he gruffly but politely said, taking the towel and dried his face.

“Okita Souji,” the young man said, bowing slightly. “Please to meet you, Saitou-san. I wanted to thank you for the match today. It was very refreshing to spar against someone of such high calibre.”

Had those words been said any other way, Saitou would have thought them to be unwanted flattery, but the tone that the young man had stated his words sounded like a challenge. That and coupled with a sharp look in Okita's eyes that certainly did not match the smile, cemented Saitou's opinion about this young man. Deep down, there was a hungry demon inside of the young man, waiting to be unleashed in a flurry of blood and swords; that demonstration match had whet the appetite of the demon and it wanted more.

The right corner of Saitou's lips tugged up in a smirk – outwardly this young man may have been oblivious to such a dark creature living inside of him, but he knew a good challenger when he saw one. It was Okita Souji who would help him get stronger – but only once. Saitou was certain that if they ever sparred again, he would have to utilize everything that he knew to even fight the young man to a draw.

“It was a good match,” he agreed.

“I look forward to the next time we spar, Saitou-san.”

“As do I.”

* * *

It seemed as if the six months he had been allowed to study at the dojo passed by so quickly that he did not know where the days went. However, in those six months, he had not even sparred against Okita since the first day. Whether it had been by chance or deliberately done, neither ever encountered one another during any sparring sessions. Saitou had initially wondered if he would ever get another chance to spar against the young man, but had dismissed the thoughts as quickly as they had come.

Today, though, was his final day at the dojo, and even though practice was done for the day, he still had not a chance to enact a rematch. Stilling his mind as much as possible, he breathed in deeply before exhaling, letting his thoughts clear as he sat in seiza in the middle of the dojo's floor. He would soon be gathering his items and packing them for the journey back home, and there was still the necessary farewell that he needed to say to Kondou. For now, he let the spirit of the dojo surround him, taking in what he could of the atmosphere before he left.

It was the sharp, cold presence of someone entering the dojo that brought him out of his meditation. Keeping his eyes closed, he tried to return to a still state of mind, but heard the person walk towards him before hearing the person sit in seiza before him. There was a small sound of a bokken being placed on the floor before him and slowly, he opened his eyes.

Meditating before him was Okita Souji, and on the left side of the young man was a bokken. A second one had been placed right in between them, and Saitou could not help but smirk in anticipation. Picking the bokken up, he quietly got up and slid back a few steps, lightly gripping the bokken in his left hand. He didn't have to wait long for the young man to be done with his own meditations, and as Okita opened his eyes, Saitou saw only the dark, hungry demon behind those eyes.

As soon as Okita got up, taking the first bokken with him and took a few steps back from the center, Saitou slipped into a familiar stance that he had long practiced – _Gatotsu_ 's first form. According to his sensei back home, there were four forms, but he had only practiced and correctly executed the first two. The third one required more practice for him to correctly execute without hitting something non-vital. The forth form was actually the zero form, and he had neither the strength or agility to pull it off yet. Still, even with two of the four forms under his belt, it would be interesting to see how it fared against the forms of Tennen Rishin Ryu.

He saw Okita's eyes narrow, wary at what he was about to do, and saw the young man take up a the simplest of defensive forms, a standard battou-jutsu stance that would enable him to draw and block whatever was coming towards him. Gathering his strength, he paused for a moment before springing forward, a hearty _ki-ai_ filling the air. He lunged, and his left arm carried the momentum of the tip of his bokken that was aimed straight towards the heart of his opponent.

The sharp _clack_ of wooden sword meeting wooden sword echoed in the wake of the equally intense _ki-ai_ that Okita let loose while executing a perfect draw of the wooden sword that blocked his initial strike. However, he did not let the pressure of the block linger and instead, shifted his weight and immediately crouching slightly to offset his opponent's balance and whirled around, the thinner edge of his bokken leading the way.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw that Okita had stumbled slightly, but was still fast enough to counter the upward swipe he had attempted by raising the bokken to a near-parallel block against his body. That left Okita's side exposed, and though Saitou had heard others call it cheating, he knew that in a real fight, any swordsman would do anything to gain the upper hand against an opponent. A few of his fellow students back home had called it fighting dirty, but Saitou called it fighting practical. He took advantage of it and attempted to punch Okita.

His fist never connected, as Okita immediately pushed back and raised his bokken slightly from the parallel block it had been in, off-balancing Saitou enough that he nearly fell forward. However, quick steps back got him balanced again, but this time, it was he who immediately raised his bokken back up towards his chest. The near point-blank thrust of Okita's bokken, on a slightly upwards curved path met the flat of Saitou's bokken as he flew backwards.

Landing quite painfully as he did the first time he had sparred against Okita, Saitou softly growled and scrambled up, carefully watching Okita. There was an utter blankness on the young man's face, and though he wanted to wipe it and see anger on his opponent's expression, he held his own anger in check. To loose his calm would make him easier to read. Whatever that attack had been, it had been a lot stronger than the first time he had faced it and he knew that it had been only because of luck that he had managed to bring his bokken up in a block to not have gotten the full force of a wooden sword smashed against his chest.

Resuming the beginning stance of _Gatotsu_ , he didn't even hold the form for a moment before springing forward again. At the last second, just as he saw Okita bring his bokken to bear, Saitou poured all of his strength into his legs and jumped as high into the air as possible. Keeping his sword as close as possible to him, he saw a surprised look flash across Okita's face before the apex of his jump was reached.

The second form of _Gatotsu_ was something he took pride in, when executing – it gave him a very wide range of points to attack, for the swordsman on the ground below would try to watch for a strike to be telegraphed. However, a correctly executed _Gatotsu_ second form allowed the swordsman to telegraph a fake strike, only to have the true strike come at the final moment before impact. Saitou held his bokken close as he fell back to the ground, and he could see with the beginnings of minute movement from Okita below, that the young man was going to attempt to either roll or dodge the attack.

Normally, he would crash into the ground and miss with his strike, but just as Okita moved his body, with his bokken extended out to do a deflecting block, Saitou immediately dropped his sword arm, and clamped his right hand onto the hilt of his bokken. The power, intensity and speed of his upward swing of the sword from left to right, coupled with his feet touching the ground again, overpowered whatever block Okita attempted and sent the young man flying backwards.

He only gave the young man a moment to crash into the ground, rolling backwards to right himself, before sprinting to where his opponent was. His sensei back home had told him mercy was for the weak, and opponents like Okita never deserved any mercy. Both of their roars overpowered the sound of their wooden swords clashing together again, neither giving ground or giving up.

~~~

“Hey everyone!”

If it were not for the fact that Nagakura was normally excited, it was the edge in his voice that alerted Kondou, Yamanami, and Hijikata to the fact that something strange had happened. “What?” Hijikata asked, raising an eyebrow as he sat up from lying on the browned grass. He had been letting the chilly air and cold, hard ground reinvigorate him after the long practice. Kondou and Yamanami had accompanied him to this particular spot and they had talked of old times and of what possibilities the future held before being interrupted.

“Okita is sparring against Saitou!”

“What?!” he hissed, immediately getting up.

“Really?” Kondou had said at the same time, with a sudden smile blossoming on his face.

Of all the reactions that they could elicit, only Yamanami pushed his spectacles up slightly and sighed.

“Come on! Heisuke and Sano are already there watching!” Nagakura said.

It was not out of curiosity that Hijikata followed, but out of concern. Ever since the first day that their guest student, Saitou Hajime, had shown up and had been beaten by Souji, he saw the fire burning in Saitou's eyes for a rematch. He had also seen the same fire in Souji's eyes and he knew just how much power, ability, and skill the young man had. He knew that the young man usually held back during practice and sparring sessions to not injure other students, but had not held back during that test against Saitou. Saitou was skilled, but Hijikata was not sure if their guest student was as skilled as Souji.

As he, Kondou, Yamanami, and Nagakura approached, two distinctive, _powerful_ forces pushed at them, and the doubt in Hijikata's mind was instantly wiped away. The distinct swordsman spirits, _ken-ki_ , that both Souji and their guest student exuded was equal in intensity that he felt almost refreshed by it – it had been too long since he had felt something as powerful as what filled the air right now. Of course there were rough edges to the presences that both young men possessed, but it was almost not a concern as he saw Toudou and Harada peeking into the dojo.

The Trio were in their own right, competent swordsmen too, but the fact that both Toudou and Harada were not standing in front of the entrances to the dojo surprised Hijikata. The roars of _ki-ai_ that reverberated out of the dojo accompanied an increase in _ken-ki_ , causing Kondou to give a hearty laugh.

The four of them reached the dojo and peeked in, just as they saw both Saitou and Okita's final swings of their bokken towards each other end in a draw. Both young men had the thin edges of their blades at each other's necks, and though both were breathing very hard, with rivulets of sweat dripping down their faces and soaking patches through their clothes, neither wavered.

Hijikata did note that Souji had a bleeding split lip while Saitou had a nasty-looking bruise forming right near his left eye – the two of them had not just been sparring with bokken, they had brawled and fought as if their lives depended on it. The state of the inside of the dojo looked like it supported his theory; it was a complete, chaotic mess. Scattered everywhere were bokken, with some of them broken and shattered into splinters of wood.

He heard Kondou start clapping and glanced over to see the dojo master step in, not even caring about the destruction that had been wrought. He too stepped in, feeling almost oppressed with just the amount of _ken-ki_ that saturated the air in the dojo. However, he couldn't help but smirk as he saw the dark fire recede from Souji's eyes, with warm life returning to them, and the young man blanching at the destruction that had been wrought. That smirk widened slightly as he also saw Saitou return to himself and stare all around him, as if seeing the dojo for the first time.

“That was so cool!” Toudou exclaimed, breaking into Hijikata's thoughts before his mind decided to take a much darker, guilt-ridden analytic path with regards to his concern about Souji's mentality.

The swordsman spirits from both young men immediately shrunk, and moments later, Hijikata heard a nervous laughter escape from Souji's lips. Both young swordsmen removed their bokken from each other's way and he saw Souji scratch the back of his head in a sheepish manner. Saitou, though, immediately bowed towards Kondou, saying, “I'm sorry for what we did to your dojo, Kondou-sensei.”

“Nonsense,” Kondou genially replied, laughing. “This old place needed to be cleaned a bit anyhow! Come on you two...get cleaned up quickly because we're going into town tonight for a celebration send-off!”

“Yeah!” Nagakura enthusiastically said while Harada and Toudou cheered. “We'll clean this up while you guys wash up.”

“But--” Souji began.

“No ifs, ands, or buts about it!” Nagakura said as the Trio descended upon the two swordsmen and ushered them out of the dojo.

Hijikata glanced over at Yamanami who had an easy-going grin on his face, and mentally sighed. Even though he had not seen the match, at least he now knew, even just by the end results, that both young men were equally matched. There was someone that was able to match Souji in swordsmanship skills for now. In such a short amount of time, he had seen Souji grasp concepts, forms, and develop such a deep intuition with the sword and the skills behind it, that it frightened him.

He had seen that untapped well of potential in Souji seven years ago, but it had not taken long for him to realize that what he did all those years ago, giving Souji a sword, was wrong. The young man's innocence was completely destroyed and in that place, a void had been growing – a demonic void that fueled the dark fire in Souji's eyes. To see that Saitou reflected a similar mentality was surprising, but somehow, Hijikata felt his guilt eased slightly by it. Souji finally had someone to match his skills to and continue to grow with a purpose instead of being consumed by the darkness.

Though Hijikata knew that could never go back and stop himself from giving a young child a sword, from this point forward, he vowed to never make that same mistake ever again.

 

~*~*~*~

**Author's Note:**

> For the purpose of this crossover, I'm messing with RK canon slightly. Hijikata Toshizou did not create or teach any forms of Gatotsu – its part of the sword style that Saitou trained in when he shows up in RK. Also, for the record, Saitou is my favorite character in this entire crossover series of stories (Echoes, Remnants, Whispers, and Shadows)... he also has a tendency to take over my stories. His POV will return to the series when the Roshigumi arrive in Kyoto.


End file.
